Citizens speak out against Common Core at town hall meeting

Wednesday

Jan 29, 2014 at 11:35 AM

A group of citizens spoke out against the Common Core State Standards — a standardized learning initiative implemented in Oklahoma schools — during a town hall meeting Tuesday night at the Oklahoma Wesleyan University Lyon Chapel and Fine Arts Center.

A group of citizens spoke out against the Common Core State Standards — a standardized learning initiative implemented in Oklahoma schools — during a town hall meeting Tuesday night at the Oklahoma Wesleyan University Lyon Chapel and Fine Arts Center.

According to Linda Murphy, an educator and speaker for the event, CCSS were developed by a group of individuals to create a set of academic standards to be used across the U.S. and subsidized by President Barrack Obama’s administration. The curriculum was developed to apply for a Race to the Top federal grant, which Oklahoma schools did not receive.

Murphy said CCSS was written into law in 2008, before the curriculum for it had been written.

"We didn’t get the money, but we got all the regulations," Murphy said. "No carrot, but we got the stick. There’s a carrot and a stick, usually, with federal money."

At a question and answer portion of the meeting, one citizen asked speakers if schools would lose federal money if CCSS is rejected by the state. Jenni White, president of Restore Oklahoma Public Education, explained that because a Race to the Top grant was not received, the state has no federal money to lose.

Murphy said that, in this administration, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin became chairwoman of the National Governors Association — the private membership, nonprofit organization that created CCSS. She said Fallin is "holding tightly to this agenda which was actually put into place prior to her."

According to the Common Core Mission Statement posted on its website, www.corestandards.org, the state standards "provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy."

Murphy said that a bill has been written that would kill CCSS — and the standards, curriculum and testing that go with it — in Oklahoma if it were to pass. She said Sen. John Ford, R-Bartlesville, has refused to read the bill, Senate Bill 1146, written by Sen. Eddie Fields, R-Wynona.

"Right now, Senator Ford has not indicated that he will even hear that in committee," she said.

Kristal Picolet, a parent, recalled a recent conversation with Ford.

"… If these are just standards and it doesn’t drive curriculum, why are we spending millions of dollars on new textbooks? Why can’t we use the current textbooks that we have?" said Picolet. "No answer. I said, ‘If these are just standards and it doesn’t drive the curriculum, then why do we have all these high-stakes testing? How is the child going to pass the test if we don’t teach the curriculum or the standards?’ No answer.

"There are many questions you can ask him, and you will get zero response," she continued. "He will say, ‘Well this has to do with high school drop-out rates and college remediation.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m worried about my son getting into fourth grade, let alone college.’"

Murphy said Fallin is the key to removing CCSS from Oklahoma.

"If the House passes … the bill to kill it, and the Senate passes it, (Fallin) can still veto the bill. We all need to let the governor know. We need to have informed teachers that will talk one-on-one to the governor’s office, to their representative (and) to their senator, because I keep hearing ‘Well, it’s just some parents.’ But no, it isn’t."

State Rep. Earl Sears, who was in attendance at the meeting, said that while many teachers are frustrated with CCSS, not many have come to him directly asking to remove it.

"I really don’t have (teachers) coming to my office saying, ‘We don’t like Common Core.’ Really, our teachers are frustrated with the numerous things that are going on in education — the demands, the testing … those are the kind of things that drive the teachers crazy," Sears said. "To tell you I have mass numbers coming to me of educators saying, ‘I do not want Common Core, you need to draw a line in the sand,’ that is just not the case."

White said CCSS allows for the sharing of all student data — those presently in school and those who have already graduated. Some examples of data that can be shared, she said, include employment status, place of residence after school, voting status and religious affiliation.

"You’re a student and you log into a for-profit education vendor — Pearson McGraw or something that’s through your school. That data then goes to the local school, then it goes to the district, then it goes to the state department, then it goes to the National Center for Educational Statistics, then it goes to the Institute of Education and Sciences and, from there, it goes a veritable plethora of places that you would actually be shocked to find," White said.

With CCSS, White said there are too many ways student data can be shared, and too many ways for student data to be exposed. This data sharing, she said, goes against the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects student records from being shared, and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, which makes instructional materials available for inspection. She said CCSS also goes against the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act because medical records become available and can be shared.

In order to prevent data sharing, White urged parents and students to stay away from online schooling if concerned and to avoid using public school facilities if homeschooling. She also warned parents and students about providing social security numbers to anyone other than the Social Security Administration.

White stressed the importance of citizens contacting their state senators and representatives to express their concerns about CCSS.

"Contact your senator and representatives and ask them (if) they know about the state SLDS (State Longitudinal Data Systems that allow for data sharing). What do they know about it?" she said. "I’ve found that many, many, many representatives don’t know about it … If they don’t know, educate them."

Picolet gave a firsthand look at how her children have been affected by CCSS.

"We personally experienced Common Core hands-on in the classroom. Our children attended a pilot school in Aurora, Colorado," she said. "… We uprooted our family specifically to get away from Common Core in hopes to give our children a more traditional approach to education — specifically reading, writing and math."

CCSS was especially hard on her then-kindergarten aged son, she said.

"(My son) began to absolutely hate school, he hated math and he became very discouraged," she said. "He started having anxiety issues. He refused to get out of my car when I dropped him off. He would have stomach aches, frequent headaches and he would ask me, ‘Mom, do I have to go to school today?’ In kindergarten."

"… He could not grasp the concepts, and it did not take long for him to completely shut down."

Picolet said she saw a tremendous change in her children through the switch to traditional education in Oklahoma but is worried for her children’s educational well-being now that the state has adopted CCSS.

"They kept telling us — the teachers and administrators to us parents — that this was supposed to be critical thinking, deeper thinking," said Picolet. "But we knew differently. Due to the frustration, there was no critical thinking. (My son) wasn’t thinking at all. Children this age are not mentally capable, nor are their brains physically developed enough to understand abstract subjective reasoning."

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